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Sunday, June 08, 2014

Chappy Campers + Neighborhood Intrigue

Yesterday Chappy took each of the kids separately to work on projects. Rumor on the street is that they also stopped to get frosties. Katie got to ride to Lowe's and pick out spray paint for her birdhouse (purple!), James got to wield a pocket knife and came home with a motor, and Tyler...well, I am not sure what he did. I call this Chappy Camp, and they seem to love it! In fact, I dare say the come back Chappy Campers...har, har!!!!

When we got home from church today, I noticed that the neighbor a few houses down had a very fancy arch of wisteria and flowers over their sidewalk, with balloons and banners. These particular neighbors are not very verbose so I know nothing about them. A bit later, I looked out the window to see the makings of a spectacle. I realized I have lived in suburbia too long when I am staring unashamed out my front window to see what was going on! But you would to, because this is what I saw. A little back story: these particular neighbors are of the Asian persuasion. Can I say that? Its pertinent to how I figured all this out. Anyway, there was a large congregation of people standing on the sidewalk across the street. They were in suits and ties, long dresses and there was a professional photographer and videographer. The thing that was most curious is that each of the men was holding something that looked like it fell somewhere in between a giant covered dish and an urn, and each of them was turquoise. To give you an idea of size, you could fit a pretty big turkey in one. Under each dish/urn was a bright red cloth. The men in the front had something else covered in red cloth. The man at the end held a huge rectangular box on his shoulder. They were there for quite a while and it left me time to devise several theories: was this the Vietnamese version of an Quinceanera? Was the long box filled with flowers? A large rodent? Dancing leprecauns? And at what point will a golden elephant waltz in to the picture? It was all very interesting, especially since we live in a neighborhood where the typical party involves a couple dollar store balloons, chicken wings and a few cases of beer. All these people lined up in some sort of procession, and as this was happening my next-door neighbor walked right out and asked them what they were doing. Yes! Thanks to his snoopy-ness, I now have the D-L. As they stood in their driveway staring I walked over to ask him what was going on (making me equally as snoopy). Turns out it was an engagement party. Each one of those giant urns WAS filled with food, and the large box on the guy's shoulder contained............a roasted pig! Seriously. I briefly considered dressing up and crashing the party at that point. The procession arrived at the house, where there were about 5 young women in fancy matching dresses standing in line, along with a bunch of other people. They took the urns and brought them into the house, and then everyone followed in. Very interesting, I tell you. So I googled it and found that yes, this is a 'thing' and in Vietnamese culture the engagement is nearly as important as the marriage and there is a lot of symbolism and tradition tied in to this celebration. You learn something new every day!

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Kids Commentary!!

T: James, if you keep practicing your bow and arrow, you can get really good at it and be an Indian when you grow up. Indians are really interesting.

K: (to Chappy) You should enter a contest for Crazy, because you'd probably win.

T: I have two friends who are twins, Wi-wee and Wee-uh. But they aren't attached. Remember we watched a show about that?

T: Uh, Mom...problem! I can't poop because I didn't eat enough food.

J: Don't bring those blankets Mom. I germinated them. (meaning he coughed all over them when he was sick)

T: (after seeing a very short man) I thought he was a kid, but he is not. He is the most medium sized dad I have ever seen.

T: Chocolate is my favorite color. (that's my boy!!!)

K: Mom, come look at my hair! It looks like Justin Beaver!

K: I don't like peaches. The fur gets on my skin and makes me itchy.

T: I almost cried (on the first day of school) but then I didn't hear a peep from my tears. They are right behind my eyes, right Mama?

T: I made a best friend at school!

Me: Great! What's his name?

T: I don't know.

J: This place is like Disney Land for flies. (under the food tent at the Grange Fair)

Me: Look for the inflatable cow.

T: That's debatable, and you need an air compressor to blow it up.

T: I got a hosta leaf for my beetle!

Me: That's actually a morning glory leaf.

K: What'd you expect, an afternoon leaf?

T: I need a boy purse. It needs to have two pockets, one for cash, one for money. That's the idea. Yep!

K: Cash and money are the same thing. The paper stuff, and the metal circles are all money.

T: (sitting on his throne...aka the toilet) Mom, I'm gonna tell you what I want for my birthday, and I hope it doesn't cost too much bucks.

J: (playing the card game 'War' with himself) Hey, so far I'm winning!

Me: You're playing against yourself, of course you're winning.

J: Well, this pile is the one that is winning.

T: (watching Yukon Men) I could catch a wolverine someday when I'm a grown up, right mama? I would just make it a whole bunch of cookies for it, and then a few hours later when it is eating the cookies I would sneak up on it and shoot it.

T: Lefty loosey, tighty righty. I got that from Chappy.

K: Now where are you, Mr. Mushroom? I have an appointment with you! To smush you!

Me: Here are two beautiful egg-in-a-holes, James.

J: Well, they are beautiful but I wouldn't put them down in the record books or anything.